Author: The Predatory Wasp

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Music

Emerson Snowe – Frankenstein

Frankenstein is the first taste of Townsville-born, Berlin-based artist Emerson Snowe’s forthcoming debut EP, which is set to land later this year. There’s something about the lofi, DIY aesthetic of this that strongly reminds me of some of Molly Nilsson’s work, not least the brittle, brisk drums and woozy pads. There’s a lot going on here: loads of fun melodies and weird little instrumental flourishes, but it all comes together brilliantly.

https://twitter.com/EmersonSnowe

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Music

Mint Julep – A Rising Sun

Dreamy pop from Portland duo Mint Julep for you today, taken from their new LP In a Deep and Dreamless Sleep which comes out next month. Really I feel like I should be listening to this at sunrise looking at something quietly spectacular: an endless desert, a hazy cityscape, etc. Instead, obviously, I’m looking at the same view I’ve been looking at pretty much non-stop for about the last year: a window, a road, a little bit of sky. The fact that it’s still making me feel overwhelmingly nostalgic and really quite happy categorically proves its greatness.

https://www.facebook.com/mintjulepmusic

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Music

Sunshine Lombre – Just Verbs

Southside Chicago native Sunshine Lombre is a dancer, poet and musician set to release her debut EP in a couple of months, from which Just Verbs is taken. On the surface at least this a super sultry, warm, minimalistic piece with little more than Lombre’s closed-mic’d vocal and some gentle Rhodes-y chords playing softly in the background. So far, so relaxing: but there’s something about the ominous pad and sketchy vinyl crackles that run throughout that makes suspect a more sinister atmosphere, like this entire ballad is being whispered to a bound ex-lover as she runs a kitchen knife playfully down their chest. But maybe that’s just me.

https://www.instagram.com/ladylombre

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Music

Browni – Ready To Surrender

Browni is producer Kovey Coles and singer/songwriter Hawa Sako, and Ready To Surrender is about as slick and sultry as R&B gets: the kind of record you listen to half a dozen times on repeat on your way back from a Big Night Out, half drifting off as you gaze out of the cab window at the yellow-white street lights and slowly brightening sky. Remember nights out? No, me neither actually.

https://www.instagram.com/brownimusic

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Music

Patrica Taxxon – Crocus 3

Patricia Taxxon released two entire albums this weekend, but I watched four entire games of rugby and cooked a roast, so, you know, who’s to really say what’s of more benefit to the world? This is my pick from the first of those albums, Crocus, which in some ways throws back to her 2019 masterpiece Beauty, minus the samples and frenetic drums: a gorgeous, synthy instrumental that once agains manages to remind me of Lemmings.

https://patriciataxxon.bandcamp.com

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Interviews Music

One Track Mind: A Winged Victory for the Sullen

The ambient duo’s Adam Wiltzie talks about Talk Talk’s genre-defining masterpiece Spirit of Eden

The premise of One Track Mind is pretty simple: I ask artists to pick one track that means a lot to them – either something they’ve discovered recently, something that’s been with them for years, or one that reminds them of a specific time in their life or career – and tell me what makes it so special to them. I get to talk to the artists I love, and they get to talk about the artists they love. Love all round!

Today we welcome A Winged Victory for the Sullen’s Adam Wiltzie. An ambient music duo composed of Wiltzie alongside Dustin O’Halloran, A Winged Victory for the Sullen are set to release their fourth studio album Invisible Cities later this month. Before forming the group, Wiltzie was involved with various ambient projects including The Dead Texan (with Christina Vantzou) and Stars of the Lid (with Brian McBride), and has been responsible for what I would confidently say are some of the most beautiful, powerful and important albums ever made, in any genre. So to say I’m very happy to have him on TPW is a bit of an understatement.

Here, Adam talks about the first time he heard Talk Talk’s post-rock masterpiece Spirit of Eden, and the lasting impact it had on him, and how it influenced his own work.

Continue reading “One Track Mind: A Winged Victory for the Sullen”
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Music

Tangent – The Origin Of Structures

The Origins of Structures is the lead track from Cycles, the forthcoming fifth album by Dutch ambient duo Tangent, and very nice it is too. Combining heavily processed, grainy drums with shifting pads that sound as if they’ve managed to find a way to actually record sunbeams glinting through the clouds, I’d be very happy to listen to this on repeat for the next hour. Which reminds me! Try listening to TMS cricket commentary with wordless ambient playing underneath. There really are few better ways to spend a Friday afternoon.

https://www.facebook.com/musictangent

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Music

Burd Hauz – Fated Feel

There’s very little information out there about Burd Haus, but what I do know is: she’s from Philadelphia, she’s just released her debut album In My Sky and she makes really good music. Also, Fated Feel reminds me a lot of Yves Tumor, which can only ever be a good thing, even though it’s significantly more chill than a lot of their recent work. Possibly it’s the slightly tuned-out guitar licks or the drawling vocal delivery, but whatever, this sits somewhere between R&B, hip hop and indie rock and is highly recommended.

https://www.instagram.com/burdhauz

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Music

Coi Leray – No More Parties

In times gone by Coi Leray’s No More Parties would sound more like a hungover pep talk delivered to yourself after yet another write-off of a Sunday than a grim prediction of just how little fun we’ll be having this year, but regardless: it’s still really fun and I really like it, and lyrics like “I’m only doing shit that’s gonna make me elevate / Only want people around that’s gonna make me better” is making me feel significantly more motivated to Get Shit Done than 1000 ham-fisted open letters from our utter fucking moron of a leader ever could.

https://www.instagram.com/coileray

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Music

Anna B Savage – BedStudy

I’ve now started this post in about half a dozen different ways, considering how to approach why BedStudy is so brilliant from various angles, but the main point is: Anna B Savage’s voice is absolutely extraordinary, managing to be both fragile and devastatingly powerful in the same breath. It’s taken from her debut album A Common Turn which came out last week, many of the tracks from which exist in a similar space, between vulnerability and invincibility, and builds from scarcely strummed guitar to an electronic crescendo as all-consuming as anything I’ve heard for quite some time.

https://www.annabsavage.com